Software giant Microsoft requested Google to remove over 500,000 links from its search index in April, new figures published by the search giant have revealed.

Software giant Microsoft requested Google to remove over 500,000 links from its search index in April, new figures published by the search giant have revealed.

Google's data showed that most of these links would direct users to websites that sell pirated Microsoft software.

Some of the links, which Microsoft asked Google to remove are, however, still live via its own search engine Bing, The Telegraph reports.

Google recently released a report in the U.S. to provide a better understanding of the intellectual property abuses on the internet, after Microsoft faced copyright infringement problems by other websites.

The new report, released by the internet search giant, includes a breakdown of all requests Google has received since July 2011 to remove copyright-infringing content from its search index.

According to the paper, Microsoft's removal requests significantly outnumbered those registered by the British Phonographic Institute, which represents record labels.

Music body the BPI and the media company NBC Universal respectively made the second and third largest number of requests in the last four weeks, the report said.

Google's transparency report showed that the number of requests to remove links has risen steeply over the last 12 months.